Aesthete

Chapter 15.

Todoroki and I were dashing through the back of towering buildings, making our way further into the maze of alleyways, hoping we'd catch sight of Izuku soon. The darkness of the sky above was glaring down in an almost taunting manner, as if to mock us for what we'd encounter immediately. Todoroki's hand flashed in front of my abdomen, forcing me to halt my movements.

"Wait, I think I hear something." We paused, ears searching for any noise beyond our capacity. A loud crash sounded, followed with a familiar yelp. I felt the blood rush to my head, and my fists clenched tightly as I took off bounding to him.

If Midoriya's injured, I'll hurt whoever did it. I wasn't a person for particularly lecherous thoughts, but the idea of my best friend getting in harm's way ignited a deep rage that I couldn't put out. The scuffling grew louder as Iida's voice could be heard, asking Izuku to take a person named Native and leave. I turned, finally catching sight of the scenario as Todoroki and I released powerful waves of flame and stone, aiming for the man who hovered over Izuku, Iida, and a pro-hero, with a sword. I jumped in the air immediately, sending vines to wrap around what I presumed to be the Hero Killer Stain. He dodged them, slicing through as I used the false move to crash two boulders on him, piercing his body immediately, allowing Todoroki's ice to touch the supposed vigilante.

Stain groaned in pain, "So now there's more wannabes here? I'll kill you all if you don't get out of my way." His voice was a gnarled one, sounding as if speaking was a painful task. I'm in danger, aren't I?

It was obvious, Iida was bleeding from his arm and legs, the Pro-Hero named Native had blood dripping from his head and Izuku was littered with light injuries, but somehow frozen. I neared them as Izuku cried out my name, but his body still didn't move. I sent healing properties of calendula and aloe vera to all three of them while Todoroki was working to combating Stain some more. I thanked my brain for adding a first aid kit attached to my hip for my improved hero costume as I pulled out bandages, attempting to wrap up the boys' injuries as quickly as possible.

"Reyna, leave. This is my battle, take everyone with you but be careful, if he cuts you, he can immobilize you," Iida warned me with tears pouring down his eyes. My poor friend, Tenya Iida. He was so overwhelmed with rage and grief that he rushed blindly into a situation that he could no longer remove himself from. Nonetheless, as a hero-in-training and a friend, I wouldn't abandon him. "You asked the wrong person to leave you behind, maybe try someone else," I replied calmly, summoning two stone staffs as my weapons, while forcing more vines, thorns, and granite to launch themselves at the Hero Killer.

"Florence, please be careful, please." Izuku begged, eyebrows furrowed as he remained stiff. Moving both staffs to one hand, I stroked his cheek lightly. "There's no need to worry about me, I'll do whatever it takes to protect you guys." With that, I bounded towards Stain, finally releasing the fury I felt. Our attacks were relentless, he was swift in dodging almost every one of them as I analyzed the different ways to weaken his body. I created stony landslides, walls of vines and thorns to tear at him. He bounded back with the strike of my last hardened kick, I resorted to encasing my body with stone to protect myself when he tried to swipe at me with his sword.

Todoroki shot another fiery force as Stain pointed at me, crying out, "Are you a real hero? I'll kill you for your attempts to defeat me!" His words didn't tug at any weak spots of my ego, quite frankly, I was never impressed with his ideologies. The two-toned boy beside me became visibly upset with Stain's words.

"You won't kill her!" He yelled, shooting different layers of ice and fire to overwhelm the villain. I flitted away from the brute force of Todoroki's quirk, when I noticed the dagger flying at me. My eyes widened as I flew upwards, digging a vine into the wall beside me to keep myself afloat. I felt a burn in my ankle. Crap, he grazed me. I slammed my foot on the dagger to stop Stain from reaching towards it as I sent a wave of rock to crash into him.